The Second Conspiracy
by Witka
Summary: Sequel to Thoughts and Feelings. Leon is assigned to uncover the conspiracy behind Senator Davis' murder. He'll need all of the help he can, but will his new feelings for Claire prevent him from finding the truth? LeonxClaire
1. Leon's Phone Rodeo

This is the sequel/follow up to Thoughts and Feelings. It's going to be a much longer fic, I have several chapters done of them just need fine tuning and proof reading. I need a beta reader like woah so if anyone wants to volunteer... *Can be totally shameless.* I want to thank everyone who left such wonderful reviews for Thoughts and Feelings and told me how much they enjoyed it. I hope you'll enjoy this one just as much. I'm gonna try and explore a little more in depth with the characters, so be patient with it. As always I live and breath for reviews, they make my day so let me know what you think, good or bad. But hopefully not flaming.

Also has a quick note before I forget, I have not played RE5 yet. I do not currently have an Xbox and I haven't gotten around to spoiling myself on the story. So if I end up contradicting something in the game, my humblest apologies.

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Leon walked into his office, nursing his third, or was it fourth? cup of coffee for the day. The recent spat of restless nights was starting to take a toll. Leon had become good friends with his coffee maker lately, he'd even been willing to let Starbucks rob him of his hard earned money for some coffee. He still wasn't sure if he'd gotten a large or a vente, or if they were the same thing. He supposed it didn't matter what size it was, with the amount they had charged him he almost expected his Styrofoam cup to be gold-plated.

Shaking his head he sat down as his desk, starting up the incredibly advanced computer and leaning back. Lacking in sleep made his mind wander, and he couldn't really have that. There might not have been any new action for him to see in the past month and a half since Harvardville, but that didn't mean there weren't things to be done. After what had happened he'd renewed his search for Umbrella employees, especially those that had been in the ridiculously large research department. There was simply no way that Fredric Downing was the only Umbrella researcher to walk off with a sample of some of the viruses, or even worse some of the B.O.W.s that had been created.

Leon sighed and sipped his coffee, staring in an almost meditative fashion at his slowly booting computer screen. It had all been so simple in the beginning, the campaign to bring down Umbrella, to stop them from creating more super bio-weapons. They had succeeded, but sometimes it seemed like their success had only created more problems. There was no Umbrella now, but the collapse of the company had left a power vacuum that people and corporations were trying desperately to fill. Then of course there were the multitude of bio weapons that had been created and the fact that there were many, many employees who had had access and might have decided to take it with them in the hopes of creating some quick money and a little terror. On his more eloquent, or morose days, Leon would find himself thinking that Umbrella itself had become a kind of virus, something that took over your life and continued to spread with no way to stop it.

A knock at the door made Leon blink and look up, nodding when he saw Hunnigan standing there. "Good morning Hunnigan. What's going on?" The two had met in person, but not very often. Generally Leon was out in the field and Hunnigan was locked in what Leon privately referred to as her Ivory Closet. So when Hunnigan left the Ivory Closet it meant there was something important he needed to know, or somewhere he needed to go. And Hunnigan rarely disappointed.

"I'm sure you've heard about the murder of Senator Ron Davis." Hunnigan said, stepping inside and setting some files on his desk.

Leon raised an eyebrow, moving the precious coffee cup before it could get spilled. "I'm aware of it, though I can't say I'm mourning his loss."

Leon saw a faint smile cross Hunnigan's lips before she went back to being all business. "Be that as it may, we're going to be investigating the Senator's death." Hunnigan said, crossing her arms.

Leon raised an eyebrow at that, sipping his coffee. "Why? I thought the Secret Service was taking of that?" Investigating things was not typically something their agency did. They were better at creating mysteries than actually solving them.

"You're right, and they still are, but it seems that the entire hard drive on Senator Davis' computer was erased shortly after he was killed. Given his connections to WilPharma, and possible connections to Umbrella, it set up a lot of red flags. Our goal is to find out who killed Senator Davis, erased those files and why. I have some of the computer techs working on seeing if they can retrieve any of the lost data. You've been given the assignment due to your recent involvement with Senator Davis, as well as your connections with the Anti-Umbrella underground. I shouldn't have to tell you that the President doesn't want any more surprises showing up in America courtesy of the former Umbrella Corporation or its employees."

Leon frowned, reaching over and grabbing the top report, which turned out to be the full autopsy report of one Ronald Davis, complete with graphics. And Leon had thought the man had been an ugly penguin when alive... "I'll get started on it then." He said, skimming the report, listening to the retreating sound of Hunnigan's heels as she walked down the hall. "Cause of death given as a broken neck." He murmured, sipping his coffee. He inwardly wondered at the fact that Senator Davis even had a neck left under all the jowls, he certainly didn't look like he did. Leon read over the report, making sure to take special notice of the toxicology run that had been done. There was nothing unusual reported, and the Senator's blood work had been done by two independent labs so there was hopefully little chance of getting a falsified report. Whoever had pulled off the hit was good, the site was completely clean, no evidence of any kind. Not even trace forensic evidence.

Leon spent most of his morning reading the various reports that Hunnigan had left for him. Besides the autopsy and medical reports he had the police report from the scene, along with all of the information the Secret Service and CIA had gathered. On top of that, there was also a report on the Senator's computer and how a rather large portion of the data had been erased and how they were currently working to retrieve what information they could. But even that had been handled expertly and the tone of the report was not very hopeful.

Finally he just threw down the papers in disgust, reaching up to massage the bridge of his nose. All of the technical terms in the report were starting to bleed together and give him a headache. The whole gist was that the Senator was connected to WilPharma and more than likely had at some point been connected with Umbrella as well. Someone had killed him in a very professional manner and removed a lot of information from the Senator's computer after doing so.

Leon was about to go back to the reports when his phone began to beep. He picked it up, surprised to see Claire's number staring back at him. He hadn't really heard from her in two weeks, since that call she'd given him at 3:30 in the morning. He quickly hit accept, smiling a bit. "Kennedy."

"Hi Leon, hope I'm not interrupting your secret agent work." She said, and he could hear the smile in her voice, and it made him smile as well. He could already feel his headache lessening.

"Not at all, in fact I wouldn't mind and interruption right about now. How are the Philippines?" He asked, turning his chair around.

"It's nice, but we're done here. I'm actually flying back tonight... well today, I mean soon." She let out a sigh. "My plane leaves in two hours. I'm actually taking some vacation time and my flight actually ends at DC. Thought you might have figured a more normal place to bump into each other at."

Leon straightened at that, glancing at his calender. "How long is the flight?" It was a Thursday now and it would be quite a flight so she should arrive sometime Friday morning. Which was soon confirmed by Claire herself.

"It's about a seventeen hour flight. So once I get there, get checked into a hotel, and maybe sleep off my jet lag, we can meet up." Leon heard the sound of luggage being zipped up in the background as Claire spoke.

"You don't have to stay in a hotel Claire, you're welcome to stay at my place." It was a slightly impulsive action on his part, but he imagined Claire had to be tired of staying in hotels. An maybe he was just a closet masochist, inviting the very attractive Claire Redfield to stay in his apartment while she was in town on vacation.

"I couldn't bother you like that Leon, it's not a big thing really." Claire said, and he could hear creaking in the background.

"It's not an inconvenience Claire. We're friends after all, and I have a large apartment with more than enough space and a very comfortable and expensive couch that doesn't get used enough." He heard Claire laugh and knew instantly that he'd convinced her. "Tell me when your flight is supposed to come in and I'll pick you up at the airport." When he hung up with her he leaned back in his chair, looking at his calender again. He knew he'd just been given a new assignment, but it could wait at least one more day, because he was going to take Friday off. Claire was actually going to be staying with him, so he wanted to be able to spend time with her without having to worry about the office. And it wasn't like he couldn't take his work home with him. Besides, they had told him to use his Anti-Umbrella connections, and a big one of those was the Redfield siblings.

Leon nodded to himself before turning back to his reports. He didn't really notice that he was still smiling a bit as he sat there making notes on things to check out further. Only twenty minutes had passed before her heard his phone beeping again. He answered it without looking at the number. "Kennedy." He said, still looking over crime scene photos from the Senator's office.

"You almost sound like you're someone important Rookie." Chris Redfield's voice came over the line, sounding incredible amused. Leon sighed, knowing that to Chris he would always be a rookie, no matter what he did or what new bio-terror incidents he survived. Leon could only imagine how he'd be if he started dating Claire. That thought made Leon pause for a minute, and then he decided not to follow that thought right now because he had no idea where it had even come from or where it was going.

"Nice to hear from you too Redfield. What can I help you with?" Leon asked, tapping his pen on the desk.

"Hey, you're the one who asked me to see about helping your friend get into B.S.A.A. Well I have a date you can bring her by. Bring her to the Arlington training grounds next Thursday around ten o'clock. I'll put her through the paces and see what she's made of. No promises though Kennedy, I'm going to treat her like I treat everyone else I do evaluations for." Chris said, making his voice sound stern, like he thought Leon was really expecting him to give Angela special treatment.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Redfield and she would probably be really pissed off if she thought she was getting special treatment." Leon said, glancing at his calender again. Since Claire would be visiting then he could get the two of them together and tell them what information he had. Once he confirmed with Hunnigan that he did in fact have authorization to release information. "Once the test is done though, I need to talk with you about some things that have recently come up."

He could almost hear Chris frowning. "That doesn't sound good Kennedy. This have anything to do with that WilPharma incident you got Claire involved in?" Leon rolled his eyes at how Chris immediately gave him the blame for Claire's involvement, completely ignoring the fact that Claire was more than capable of getting herself in trouble. "Sort of, I'll tell you more when I see you." Leon said, disconnecting the call.

Two calls from the Redfields in one day, Leon was beginning to wonder if maybe he should buy a lotto ticket, since he was breaking all kinds of records today. Leon looked at his coffee cup, sighing when he saw it was empty. If this was really his lucky day, it would magically refill itself without him having to get out of his chair. After three minutes of staring at it he sighed again and stood up, walking out of his office and moving towards the office coffeepot. Which, of course, was bone dry. Oddly enough, even as it annoyed him it made him feel better too. After all the things that happened in his life, he got nervous when things started going too well. There always had to be a catch somewhere. Leon went about making a new pot of coffee, and as he sat there waiting for the coffee to finish he heard his phone beep again.

Leon sighed, glancing at the still brewing coffee before picking up his phone. This time he did check the number and almost didn't answer it. He really wasn't in the right frame of mind to speak with Angela, but he did need to tell her that what date she could expect to try and impress Chris Redfield. "Hello Angela." He said quickly. "I was going to call you." Sort of, in a few hours when he thought she wouldn't be there to answer and he could just get away with leaving a message. "I just got done speaking with my contact in B.S.A.A. He wants you to come to their Arlington training grounds next Thursday and he's going to give you an evaluation."

He could pick up the sound of a pen scratching over paper as Angela wrote down the date. "Thanks a lot Leon, I really appreciate it. How do I get there?" Leon frowned at the odd note in her voice as she spoke to him. It sound kind of... cooing, or maybe simpering. Maybe he just really needed more coffee before he tried to deal with figuring out Angela's tone of voice.

Leon massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling his headache coming back. "Come down to D.C. and I'll drive you over to the grounds. I need to speak with him about some things afterwords as it is." He glanced at the coffee, relieved to see that it was finally done. "I need to go Angela, let me know when you expect to come in." He waited for her confirmation then closed the call, grabbing up the coffee pot and refilling his cup. Stirring it slightly it occurred to him that he had rather rushed Angela off the phone, and he idly wondered if maybe it was time to invest in decaf.


	2. Your Tax Money at Work

So here's the second chapter. I could offer an excuse about why it's taken so long, but I really, really don't have one other than the fact that I tend to be a lazy slug. *bows deeply* Please forgive this lazy slug for her lack of updates. I hope this humble offering works for you, and that I will get chapter 3 out sooner. Please leave reviews telling me what you think so I know what to improve, and if you thought it was funny.

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Claire's plane arrived around 4:30 in the morning with no delays. Leon thought it was another sign of how unnatural his day (or, he supposed, the past day and a half) had been. He was sitting pensively by the terminal, empty coffee cup on the chair next to him, watching everyone that walked by, consciously scrutinizing them for any sign of possible trouble. Harvardville was still too close to recent memory to make him entirely comfortable in airports. He wasn't sure how on earth Claire had been able to go back into an airport, let alone get on a plane and fly several hours nonstop to another country after what had happened. Leon could manage to get through this by strength of will, and the knowledge that he was packing two pistols, several magazines of spare ammo, and a rather large knife. It was good to be a government agent with more security clearances than the police knew what to do with. Still, he'd be more comfortable once Claire got off the plane and they were in his car driving away.

He watched all those disembarking, letting out a breath when he saw walk Claire off the plane. She looked tired, but he figured that was to be expected after 17 hours in a plane and crossing the international dateline. Yet Leon was still struck by the fact that even as exhausted as she must have been, she still looked beautiful walking along wheeling her small suitcase that didn't look like it would hold enough clothes for two weeks. He stood up, moving to intercept her through the rather thin crowd of people who were there.

Claire saw Leon moving through the crowd, alternately blending in and sticking out. He was wearing the same jacket he had the last time she had seen him, but the pants and shirt were different. She smiled tiredly and waved to him, moving to meet him halfway. "Imagine bumping into you here. It almost seems normal," she said, stopping in front of him. She had impulse to hug him, or do something, anything other than stand there awkwardly and look at him.

Leon was finally the one who made the first move, reaching over and taking her luggage from her, their fingers brushing as he did so. Claire felt the warmth from Leon's fingers move up her arm, which soon joined the warmth coming from the hand Leon rested on her shoulder. "Come on Claire, you look beat. Let's get you back to my place so you can get some rest," he said, giving her a slight smile, which honestly did more to cheer up her day than anything else.

She followed him out, smiling a bit at the way he breezed by security like it was nothing. She figured being a secret agent for the president got you a lot of perks, since she knew Leon had to be armed with at least one handgun, if not a small arsenal. Like her brother, he couldn't go anywhere without some kind of weapon. Not that she was complaining; it let her get through security a lot faster too, which was always a plus in her book.

When they made it to the parking lot Claire let out a low whistle when she saw Leon's car. It was imported, dark, sporty and looked like it could go wickedly fast, the perfect car for a secret agent. "Pretty nice car Leon, I guess it pays to work for the government," she said, running her fingers lightly over it. Claire had always been a bit of a tomboy; growing up with an older brother had ensured that. So she'd always had an interest in cars and motorcycles; even if she couldn't really indulge in her interest anymore, it had never really went away.

Leon smirked, watching Claire admire his car. "Its one the perks of being a secret agent, I get a cool car. It's actually part of my contract," he said, opening the trunk and putting her bag inside. He then walked around and opened the car door for her, smirking again. "After you," he said, waiting for her to get in before he closed the door and went around to the driver's side.

The ride back was uneventful, Leon allowed himself the luxury of speeding a bit on the highway, but mostly he went the speed limit, since he didn't want to disturb Claire, who had fallen asleep within ten minutes of being on the road.

Claire was still asleep when they reached his apartment, head tilted to one side in a manner guaranteed to leave her with a neck ache. Leon parked the car and looked over at her, only contemplating waking her up for a minute before he got out of the car and walked around, carefully opening the passenger door. He reached over and carefully unbuckled Claire before lifting her out of the car. She was exhausted from the flight, and if he knew Claire, she had been pushing herself to work as hard as she could while she had been gone. He frowned a bit when he felt how light Claire was in his arms. Not only had she been working herself too hard - it felt like she wasn't eating well either.

Leon carried her up to his apartment, somehow managing to juggle unlocking his door without letting her go. When she didn't wake up even after that, he knew she really had been pushing herself to the limit of exhaustion. Walking inside he stared at his couch for only a second before bypassing it entirely and walking to the bedroom. He laid Claire down on the bed, removing her boots before he tucked the comforter in around her. He was going to let her sleep; for once there was no emergency, no disaster waiting to be dealt with, they would have time together later.

Claire woke up slowly the next morning, which was unusual for her. She might not be on the run or fighting Umbrella anymore, but some of the instincts instilled in her from that time still remained. Generally even if she wasn't an extremely light sleeper any more, she still transitioned from asleep to completely alert. But today she seemed to be waking up in stages, first becoming aware of the fact that she was warm and covered in something very soft. She slowly stretched, her hand curling under the pillow that smelled faintly of some kind of expensive aftershave, until it touched something cold and metallic. Blinking she slowly pulled a Glock handgun out from under the pillow, fully loaded with the safety on. That made her lift her head up and look around the room, since she herself had stopped sleeping with a gun under her pillow years ago. Sitting up, she looked around the room, immediately identifying it as a man's room. Everything was stark, utilitarian and neat, no personal touches or anything to give away who lived here. All the furniture looked newish, like it had all been ordered to match out of a catalog. She pushed the gun back under the pillow, trying to remember how exactly she had gotten to the room, let alone into the bed. The last thing she could remember was getting into Leon's car to drive back to his place...

Well if she was in Leon's car, going to Leon's apartment, she could only assume that this was Leon's bedroom. She must have fallen asleep during the drive, which meant he would have carried her up here. The thought made her blush a bit, running a hand over her head. She could feel that her hair was a mess, half of it falling loose of the ponytail holder to fall around her head. She pulled the band out, working her fingers through the strands to get out the tangles and ease the slight aching in her scalp from sleeping with it up. She glanced at her watch as she put the band around her wrist, 5:29, she'd slept for almost twelve hours, which was completely unlike her. She guessed the jet lag had really caught up with her this time. Standing, she noticed that Leon had even thought to take off her shoes.

Leon glanced up from his work when her heard Claire padding down the hallway from the bedroom. He smiled when he saw standing there in the same clothes as last night, still looking sleepy, auburn hair free of its perpetual ponytail that Leon had always seen it in. The tousled look made it seem like she'd just been rolling around in a bed with someone, and didn't that just bring all sorts of interesting images to mind? The kind of images that would get him gutted and skinned alive by Chris if he ever knew about them. Forcing those thoughts and his late night fantasies to the back of his head, he gave Claire a smile. "Awake at last I see."

Claire nodded, rubbing her eyes as she walked into the living room. "Yeah, I can't believe I slept that long," she said, sitting down in a chair and letting out a yawn. She pulled her legs up underneath her, wrapping an arm around her knees and looking around the apartment. "Nice digs Leon, another government perk?" she said, looking over at him.

Leon shrugged, gesturing to his apartment. "Your tax dollars at work my dear. Those deductions you see on your paycheck are helping me live the high life," he said, reaching over and picking up his coffee cup, making a face after he sipped it. "You hungry or thirsty?" he asked, standing up and moving towards the kitchen. "I was going to order take out for dinner, feel like Chinese?"

Claire made a face, shaking her head. "No way, I've had enough Asian food for awhile thanks. I think I want something quintessentially American for dinner, especially if you're buying."

Leon grinned, opening the drawer he stashed his to-go menus in. "How about pizza then? Can't get more American than that," he said, walking in with the menu from a local pizza place.

Claire definitely perked up at that, straightening in the chair. "Sounds fabulous, do I get to pick the toppings?"

Leon snorted and shook his head. "No way, I am not having jalapenos and pineapple again. Once was enough." Leon remembered the one time he had let Claire pick whatever she wanted for the pizza toppings. She'd ordered jalapenos and pineapple, and he'd never tasted something so disgusting in his life.

Claire snorted, rolling her eyes. "What's not to like? It's sweet, spicy and savory all in one," she said, watching with amusement as Leon blanched at her comment, shaking his head. "Oh alright, you big wuss, I would have thought after all your experiences you wouldn't be done in by a pizza."

"That's not a pizza, Claire, that's explosive diarrhea and indigestion waiting to happen. Not to mention how much it makes your breath stink." Leon sat on the couch, unfolding the menu onto his coffee table, covering up the reports that had littered it. "So you think a large will be good?"

"We can order a large, but I don't know what you'll eat," Claire said, leaning forward. For someone so tiny and skinny, Claire could pack away almost insane amounts of food. Leon still wasn't sure if she had a fast metabolism, or if she just ate lightly so she could compensate on days she felt like pigging out.

"Alright then, two large pizzas and bread sticks," he said, reaching for his phone. "Supreme going to be ok? Because I refuse to order that... concoction you like." He watched Claire roll her eyes but nod to him, getting to her feet and stretching. Leon immediately began to dial for the pizza place as Claire walked down the hall.

"I'm going to go take a shower Leon, is my suitcase in the bedroom?" At the muffled affirmation Claire went back to Leon's room, swiftly opening her suitcase and digging around for some clean clothes and her toiletries. She felt gross after being in the airplane for so long and then sleeping all that time. Not to mention she'd slept in her clothes, which was just added to the grubby feeling. She figured by the time she was finished showering the food would be here. Her stomach gave a growl at that thought, as if to remind her of just how long it had been since she'd eaten. Paranoia and lack of appetite had led her to skipping the meal offered on the plane.

After a quick survey of the room Claire located the door leading into the bathroom, flipping the light on and letting out a small gasp. The bathroom was positively huge; not only was it huge, it had a separate shower and a garden jacuzzi bathtub. Claire suddenly felt better about her hard earned income tax paying for this place, since she planned to take full advantage of that tub when she was here. After all, a girl had to pamper herself sometime and it would sure be a waste for such a nice bathtub to never be used. Especially since the very idea of ready rough and tumble special agent Leon S. Kennedy relaxing in a bath was just too absurd even for her to consider.

Claire walked down the hall and into Leon's living room almost half an hour later, damp hair falling it mussed waves around her face and neck. Leon noticed that she was wearing a pair of sweat pants that seemed to be trying desperately to escape her slim hips, not matter how much she had rolled them up so they'd stay, and an old t-shirt that stopped a good two inches before the sweat pants began. Leon was left wondering, as he tried very much not to stare at the inches of bared skin Claire was showing, if she realized just what effect she had on him, or any red blooded male for that matter.

Leon still remembered the much skimpier outfits Claire had worn when she was younger. He never would have admitted it, but there had been several dreams of a less than appropriate nature that had involved Claire and that little pink biker outfit. While it seemed her taste in clothes had matured a lot in the time since, he still got the feeling that she never knew the impact her figure had on men. Of course Leon wasn't about to tell her that; it might cause her to reconsider how she dressed and Leon rather liked being able to catch glimpses of bare skin.

"Pizza should be here soon, you want something to drink? I got some soda I think..." He got up and wandered into the kitchen, opening his fridge. "And I have some beer or..." He checked a bottle, sniffing it slightly before making a face and dumping it out. "Soda, beer, water or coffee," he said, straightening up.

"I'll have some water then." Claire said, sitting on the couch and looking at all the scattered paperwork. Normally she wouldn't have tried to pry into Leon's work; she knew a lot of his work was classified and she didn't have security clearance for, but he had left it where she could see it. Curiosity getting the better of her, she reached out and picked up one of the reports, skimming through it briefly to see what it involved. Then she immediately went back and began to read it in depth when she caught the name 'Ron Davis'. She had heard on the news he had been found dead in his office, but she'd been so busy and then out of the country she hadn't actually had a chance to follow up on it. She was so engrossed in reading that she didn't hear Leon come in, and didn't have a chance to put it down before he could see what she was doing. She gave a guilty start when she saw Leon set her water glass down on the corner of the table.

"Reading my reports now Claire?" Leon said, smirking as he sat down next to her and gently prying the report from her hands, tossing it onto the coffee table, before gathering it and the others up, shoving them back into his briefcase. "I could have had top secret government documents in there," he said, his tone meant to be teasing more than anything else. He did have secret government documents in his briefcase, but he knew Claire would never reveal anything; besides she'd hear about it soon enough.

"Well you shouldn't leave it out on the coffee table when you have company," she said, propping her chin up on her hand. "Chris has the same bad habit, and then he gets annoyed when I read all of his confidential reports. But I can't help it, most normal people keep coffee table books around to entertain their guests, not top secret reports."

Leon chuckled, stretching out his legs as he sat back down. "Well I thought about getting _The Zombie Survival Guide_, but given everything that's happened, I thought it would just end up being tacky." He paused as Claire let out a small laugh, smirking to himself. "Besides, it's not like I have a lot of visitors to entertain."

"Their loss then, I mean you're such a charming host." Claire paused when there was a buzzing sound from the intercom. She watched Leon get up and answer the buzzer, presumable letting the pizza guy in. And she resolutely told herself she was just watching Leon, not looking at how nice his ass looked in those pants of his. Besides, Leon's ass wasn't that great, it was good, but it wasn't something to write home to your mom about, if you talked to your mother about those things anyway...and she wished the pizza boy would hurry _his _ass up so she could focus on something else.

When the pizza finally made it into the apartment and to the table, there was a comfortable silence as the two of them ate. Claire found she was hungrier than she had thought, easily packing away her share of the food. Once it was all gone she let out a contented sigh, stretching a bit and curling her legs more firmly under herself, glancing over at Leon, who was finishing off his second beer of the night. The silence between them was warm and comfortable with no expectations, just two really good friends enjoying the others company.

It was Leon who broke the silence, mainly because he had a couple of questions, and as nice as sitting with Claire was, talking with Claire was generally better. "So what do you plan on doing while you're here? I can take you on the sight seeing tour if that's what you want, but I'll have to work during the week." He doubted Claire planned to just sit around his apartment the entire time.

Claire shifted a bit, smiling and brushing her hair back. "Actually, I have some interviews this week at a couple of places for a new position, and I thought I'd do a little more job hunting."

Leon gave a slow nod, thinking back to their earlier conversation. "You work fast. So you're really going to leave Terra-Save then?"

Claire nodded, swirling her water glass around. "Yeah, I am. I already handed in my resignation. I joined Terra-Save to help people, to stop another Raccoon City from happening. I wanted to stop seeing people being taken advantage of and made into victims. In the end, we almost caused another tragedy to happen. I can't handle that. I know you're going to tell me it's not my fault, and that it's not entirely Terra-Save's fault, and you're right, Leon, but at the same time we didn't do enough. We didn't try to find out what WilPharma was researching, we just assumed it had to be bad because they were involved and never questioned that." Claire sighed, looking over at Leon for a second before her blue eyes slid away. "Also I... it might be stupid, I'm probably catching some of Chris' paranoia, but I just get the feeling that if I don't leave _now_, and wait instead, things are going to get bad."

Leon frowned at that, watching her carefully. Claire always got a shiver when Leon focused, really focused, on her with those blue eyes of his. "Bad how Claire?" he asked, and while his voice might have sounded neutral to everyone else, Claire could hear the under current of worry and concern.

"I don't know exactly. I know that Terra-Save's image has been damaged because of what happened in Harvardville, how Terra-Save's accusations prevented the vaccine from being administered to the surrounding populace. I was one of the people who was involved and, I've just got a feeling that if I stick around too much longer, I'm going to become their scapegoat. The person they try to blame so that they can start to look good again. I mean after all, I survived Raccoon City, what are the likely odds of me ending up in the middle of another bio-terror incident? Especially one so similar."

Leon understood what Claire meant, but more than that he could actually see how it would play out. They'd point out her connection to Raccoon City, how being involved in such a tragedy no doubt left her scarred, unhinged, paranoid. Her distrust of pharmaceutical corporations had caused her to push Terra-Save into fighting WilPharma without even knowing what they were doing. They might even try to hint that she had somehow been involved with Curtis Miller in an attempt to prove her accusations, to paint her as partially responsible. Despite the fact she had been caught up in it just like all the other victims. Claire's life and reputation would be ruined, or if not ruined dragged through the mud so badly it would be almost impossible to repair it. It wouldn't really matter to them in the end; Terra-Save would have their scapegoat and hopefully a boost in their public ratings when they made it public they were letting her go. Probably with some falsely encouraging word about how they hoped she got the help she needed. At which point Chris, Claire, or both would just completely loose it, thus adding to the scandal. The very fact that he could see the scenario play out in his head, almost word for word, told him he'd been working for the government way too long. He'd gotten too used to backstabbing tactics and political motivations. It left him feeling vaguely sick that he was actually starting to think like they did.

Leon shook his head and stood up, walking into the kitchen and a can of Dr. Pepper before walking back out. "Evidently they don't know about Redfield's law."

"Redfield's law?" Claire said, raising at eyebrow as he walked back in. "Care to explain?"

"Yeah, it's kind like of Murphy's law, anywhere there's zombies, you'll find a Redfield nearby beating them down." He was glad to hear laugh at that, even as she reached for a pillow, hurling it at him. He dodged it; after all he had years of government training in the secret art of pillow warfare. "So then, where did you have interviews at?" he asked, watching as Claire covered a yawn with her hand.

Claire took a breath, getting her laughter under control before she responded. "Ah, I have an interview with the Bio-Terrorism Response and Rescue Organization, another with the Biohazard Regulation and Prevention Commission, one with the Pharmaceutical Regulation Committee and just to round things out, a final one with the Food and Drug Administration."

Leon let out a low whistle. "That's some pretty serious alphabet soup you have going on there Claire." A job with any one of those groups meant she would have to move from New York to D.C., making her that much closer to him, and to Chris, but that didn't matter as much to Leon as the idea of having Claire close again. "I'm sure you'll get in at one of them. You're more than qualified and you have the experience."

Claire gave him a smile. "Thanks. I'm actually going to need to go shopping this weekend, I don't have any clothes for an interview. I didn't want to take one of my two really nice outfits with me to trudge around the jungle in. So I'm going to need you to at least point me in the direction of a department store, but I won't make you stay around while I try stuff on. You can go and hide out in the man space."

Leon didn't think it would be that much of a problem, waiting around while she tried on clothes. It might not be exciting, but it would also mean he got to see Claire in something other than pants. Something girly-maybe she'd even try on one of those pencil skirts like he'd seen Hunnigan wear. "Not a problem Claire, I don't mind coming along, it'll be nice to actually do something not work related on my weekends." And spending time with Claire would definitely not be related to his work. So long as she didn't dare try and ask him if anything she tried on made her look fat.


	3. Stalled Investigations

Monday came, the same as it always had to, but for once Leon was not excited, or even mildly pleased at the thought of having to go back to his top secret job in the top secret building that looked like every other government building in a city crowded with them. Just their name badges were fancier and you had to be really important to get in. Normally Leon didn't mind going back to work after the weekend, since he spent a lot of his weekend doing things ultimately related in some way to his work instead of enjoying the time off. But this time, he had spent the entire weekend with Claire Redfield doing absolutely nothing that could in any way be remotely considered work related. An he'd loved it.

They'd actually gone shopping on Saturday so Claire could buy some clothes for her interviews, and Leon had been surprised that it had been relatively easy. They'd gone to a mall he knew about, and Leon's job had basically consisted of following Claire around as she went through the different department stores. They spent a lot of time in Macy's, and Claire came out with two pairs of pants, a couple of skirts and tops, a black blazer and most surpising of all, a pair of black four inch heels. Leon had never really pictured Claire as a high heels type of person, so when she had picked them out he'd been intrigued by the idea. They'd made her much taller and Leon had been forced to aggree with the sales associate, they really did show off her legs. All in all, probably the least traumatic shopping trip he'd ever gone on with a girl. Essentially all he had do was tell the truth, that Claire looked amazing in what she'd picked out and carry a couple of bags. After the shopping, the rest of the weekend had consisted of doing tourist things, visiting the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and Leon's favorite bar which was about three blocks from his apartment. A good grubby feeling Irish pub that reminded him of the one's back home in Chicago where his father and other assorted family members would hang out after they got off a shift.

Leon shook his head, and pushed Claire to the back of his mind as he walked in the doors and swiped his badge. It was work time, and over the years Leon had gotten better at remembering to check his personal shit at the door and leave it there. He'd seen plenty of other agents get killed or injured because they had let their personal lives follow them to work. Leon had no intention of becoming a statistic just yet. So he sipped his coffee and forced himself to dismiss Claire and their enjoyable weekend from his mind.

He made his way to his desk, sitting down and turning on his computer. It was time to go back to figuring out who had killed Senator Davis and why. He'd been looking over the Senator's various connections, both in politics and business, and quite honestly the list of people who might want him dead wasn't exactly short. However the list of people with the means to hire someone to kill him, and Leon had no doubt this was a professional hit, was much shorter. Still, there wasn't enough motivation for most of the people on the list to try and take out Davis,.Then there was the added factor of the erased computer files. Davis obviously had information on something, and given his connection to WilPharma, he had a feeling it might just be related to whatever other viral pots WilPharma had their fingers in, beyond just the T-Vaccine.

Of course since this involved bio-weapons and the Umbrella legacy, there was one name that jumped to the top of the list, Albert Wesker. As much as Leon would like to pin this one on Wesker, adding to the list of atrocities the man had committed, something about it just didn't sit right with Leon. Maybe it was his old, barely developed cop instincts, or just all the stories he'd heard of the man from Chris and others, but this just didn't seem to be his style. The part with the computer files certainly seemed like something Wesker would do, but killing Senator Davis just didn't sit right. From the impressions Leon had gotten from others, Wesker didn't seem like the sort of person who would have someone assasinated unless it served him in some way, the only really personal grudge he seemed to have was with Chris. There wasn't any benefit that Wesker gained by having Senator Davis killed. If he had wanted Davis' computer files, he probably would have just had someone sneak in and steal them, or steal them himself. No fuss, no muss, no one the wiser for it. Simply put, there was no motive to kill Davis just for the contents of his computer.

While Leon would never rule Wesker out as a candidate for this, he wasn't ready to put the blonde egomaniac at the top of his list. Wesker had just ended up being at the top because there wasn't anything, or anyone, better to fill the space. Leon felt there was something he was missing, and he wished to god the geeks down at tech would hurry up and figure out if they'd be able to retrieve any of the lost data on Davis' computer. Until then, Leon figured it would be prudent to take a much closer look at WilPharma and just what the company had been doing with itself.

Several hours later, Leon was ready to give up on this for the day. He'd been doing everything he could to look into just what exactly WilPharma had been involved in, but he'd been coming up with a lot of nothing. Well not nothing per se, just nothing that gave any indication as to why Davis was killed or what information the senator might have had. Leon knew he didn't have all of the information on WilPharma, more was constantly coming in and who knew how much more was being destroyed as Leon sat there, glaring at his computer monitor.

Leon was finally saved by the beeping of his phone, giving him something else to focus on. He grabbed it, almost elated when he saw it was Hunnigan. If Hunnigan was calling, hopefully that would mean she had found something he'd missed, or had some other lead he could follow up on. "Hi Hunnigan." He said, managing to keep his emotions from bleeding into his voice, but he was sure Hunnigan could see his relief to hear from her.

"I have some information for you Leon. It might not pan out to anything but it's the best I've been able to come up involving the Senator's murder."

Leon looked at his stack of crumpled notes, doodles and lists. "Well if you got anything Hunnigan, you're a step ahead of me. I haven't had any luck locating anything that might even give a hint as to why someone would bother to kill Senator Davis. Or who that someone might be." He watched Hunnigan purse her lips at him, giving him that look of annoyance he was fairly sure she reserved only for him, and was somewhat fake.

"Have you been keeping up with the business news Leon?" At his slight shake of the head she nodded, obviously expecting as much. "I'm sending a feed to your computer, with ther information I found. Ever since the incident in Harvardville, WilPharma's stock prices have been dropping. Not only that, but the company's reputation has been greatly tarnished and they don't have the funds to repair their research facility. Simply put, the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. There's been an offer put forward by Tricell Pharmecuticals to buy WilPharma entirely. It's still being considered and nothing has been signed yet."

Leon let out a breath, staring at Hunnigan's face on his phone. "Alright I get all of that that Hunnigan, but what does it have to do with Senator Davis?" He asked, his mind trying to follow whatever path it was that Hunnigan's brain was on. It wasn't quite working, but then Leon didn't have a lot of business acumen. He was more of an action man.

"I'm getting there Leon." Hunnigan said, a slight note of exasperation entering her voice. Honestly, for someone as talented, skilled and attractive as Leon was, he could be incredibly dense sometimes. "Senator Davis was a major stockholder in WilPharma. With his passing all of his property, including his WilPharma stock was willed to his next of kin. Since Senator Davis wasn't married and didn't have any kids," Leon remembered what the senator had said about children at the airport, and the slap it had gotten him from Claire, "it went to his nephew, Donald Crewe. Since WilPharma's stock has been loosing value, it seems one of the first things Donald did was sell all of it."

Leon still wasn't following this, but he nodded, trusting Hunnigan had a good place to take this. So he asked the next logical question. "Who did he sell them to?"

"He sold them to the Kiju Trading Company, and they paid well over the asking price for them. I did some research into it and the Kiju Trading Company is a sham. It's a shell company that looks to have been set up specifically to purchase stocks. The sole owner and shareholder of the company is a woman by the name of Excella Gionne. She's the president of TriCell Pharmecuticals' African branch, and one of the company's top researchers." Hunnigan pause to let that sink in for Leon, absently pushing her glasses up.

Leon's mind was working now, in fact it had kicked itself into over drive going along the information Hunnigan had found. Leon wasn't familiar with how the business world worked, but he had a set of red flags that were rather easy to trigger, and Hunnigan had just sent them all into motion. "What else have you found Hunnigan?"

"I found several other shell companies that were being used to purchase WilPharma stocks, all of which come back to Excella Gionne in some way. At the rate it's been going, she's fast becoming one of the largest stockholders in WilPharma. She could push through the sale of Wilpharma, and if she couldn't..."

"As a major stockholder she'd still have a lot of say in how things were done. In essence making WilPharma a branch of TriCell." Leon finished, his mind still doing cartwheels. "But do you really think that they would have Senator Davis killed for his stocks and what information he had on WilPharma Hunnigan?"

"That's what you're supposed to find out Leon. The tech guys are still working on Senator Davis' computer, if we're lucky they'll be able to give us some kind of lead from what they recover." She gave him the same look she always did when she thought he was being just a little too obtuse.

Leon nodded, giving Hunnigan a smile. "Thanks for the lead Hunnigan. I'm gonna start researching TriCell and see what skeletons I can dig out of their biohazard closet." He said, waiting for Hunnigan to disconnet the call. Then he sighed, leaning back in his chair and wondered what deities he had pissed off in another life that they had decided to make his life insanely complicated. He glanced at his computer, noting that he had received the download from Hunnigan with more details and references for what they'd both just talked about. Leon let out a sigh, looking at the screen then down at his desk. This definitely was going to require more coffee.

Claire studied herself in the mirror of Leon's bathroom, smoothing out her skirt one last time before she turned and walked down the hall. She had an hour and a half before her interview, and since she wasn't familiar with D.C. or it's notorious subway system, she figured she might need every minute of it. Ther nerves wouldn't hit her until right before they showed her in, even if she knew there wasn't really any reason to be nervous. It wasn't like she had to find a job immediately, Terra-Save paid her well and she'd managed to amass a small emergency nest egg she could live on for a few months, even longer if she really buckled down and got stringent with her spending. Still, it would ease her mind to know she had employment because two things Claire hated most were feeling helpless and being dependent on someone else.

If nothing else, she knew she could awlays get into the B.S.A.A. They'd tried to recruit her once, and she knew several people who would vouch for her abilities and give her reccomendations. She just didn't necessarily want to turn back into a warrior woman. Sure she still had a couple of hand guns in her apartment which she took to the shooting range when she could, and of course there were the lovely knives she kept around, for purely decorative purposes mind you. She just wanted to do more than fight and react to the terrors Umbrella had unleashed.

Claire shifted as she stood on the subway, not want to sit down for fear of messing up her skirt. She kept getting the feeling she weas being watched, but everytime she looked around she just saw ordinary people, lots of men in business suits busily looking at their papers, their upside down papers. Claire turned away again, shaking her head slowly. Part of her didn't really believe they were checking her out, it just didn't seem possible. She honestly didn't think a skirt and a pair of heels could make that much of a difference in how men looked at her. Chris would probably say that they were always looking at her, she was just too oblivious to notice. But Chris was her older brother, so it was his job to believe that every man who looked at her had secret fantasies about her, she was pretty sure it was in the handbook somewhere.

When her stop came, at least the stop she thought was her's, Claire got off carefully worming her way through the crowds of people. Halfway across the platform, she heard her phone start to ring, without pausing she reached into her bag, pulling it out and glancing at the number before flipping it open. "Speak of the devil." She said, bringing it to her ear. "Hi Chris, how's it going?" She asked, making her way through the station.

"Well I hadn't heard from you in awhile Sis, and I was getting worried. Afterall you're my baby sister and I have to make sure nothing eaten's you or that you haven't gotten into some new kind of trouble I need to bail you out of." She rolled her eyes at that, barely holding in the snort of disbelief she wanted to give at Chris's words.

"Funny, I always thought I was the one bailing _you_ out of trouble."

She listened to Chris's dry chuckle, feeling a smile of her own move across her face. "So are you back in the country yet, or did the peacenicks send you off to some other new exotic locale that doesn't get decent phone service."

Claire blinked as she walked out into the bright sun, letting her eyes adjust to this new change. "Yes I'm back in the country, Chris. I got back in on Friday, I'm actually in D.C. Remember how I said I was going to resign from Terra-Save? Well I sent out some resumes before I left on my last trip and now I have some interviews at a couple of agencies."

"That's great Claire, gonna become a g-woman then huh? I hope you won't let your new found power go to your pretty head." There was a pause and she could heard someone talking in the background for a second before Chris came back. "But since you're in the D.C. area, why don't you stay wirh me instead of in another hotel. You gotta be itching for a more homey setting by this point."

"Thanks for the offer Chris but it's fine, I'm not staying in a hotel." She started walking trying to think of how to put her next words, since Chris' reaction had the potential to be rather... volatile, to put it mildly. "I'm actually staying with Leon, he offered to let me stay at his place while I was in town."

"What? You shacking up with that Rookie, Claire! He better not try anything on you or so help me, I'll make him wish he'd died in Raccoon City! Why you staying with him anyway? You know you could have called and stayed with me, it would have been perfectly fine and then we wouldn't have this problem." Claire could practically see her brother pacing, waving his free arm wildly.

"No I am not shacking up with him Chris, I'm sleeping on his rather nice sleeper sofa. In his very nice and spacious apartment that beats out your dingy little apartment in Arlington. Besides, it's more convient for my interviews to actually be in DC and not outside of the city."

Claire paused to inspect a map by a street post, not really listening to her brother valiantly try to defend the apartment he barely spent any time in. She didn't really pay attention to him, instead looking for her destination and the best way to get to it, until she heard, "Leon said he wanted to talk to me anyway so it'll be perfect."

"Wait, what? What did you say about Leon, Chris?" She asked, straightening up and turning her attention back to the conversation and began walking again.

"I said that Kennedy had mentioned something the other day about wanting to talk to me, well us but he told me, so it'll be the perfect excuse to come up and make sure he's not doing anything you don't want. Didn't he mention his big news to you?"

"No, he hasn't mentioned anything about needing to speak to us about something. However he does have your bad habit of leaving top secret reports on his coffee table. Even with that though, I don't know what he would want to talk to you about." Claire didn't know, but she could imagine several things, none of which were very good. "So why exactly were you two talking anyway? Neither of you are the chatting type."

She listened to Chris give another dry chuckle as she hurried across a street and turned the corner. "We're not, but he asked me to give some friend of his a trial run to see if I thought they could make it in B.S.A.A. and I was calling to tell him to bring her down to the Arlington grounds on Thursday for it. That's when he mentioned he wanted a big sit down."

Claire was a little confused, since none of this had been mentioned to her yet. "Coming down to Arlington for a trial run? A friend of his in ti B.S... oh, you must mean Angela." She said, the light going off suddenly. "Well how about instead of you coming up, I come down? You can pick me up the night before and I can spend Wednesday night with you and be there for the evaluation. I don't have anything planned for that day anyway."

"That'll work, if the Rookie can let you go. You certain he didn't mention anything about whatever this big secret is? Nothing at all? I know the two of you are close, he must have hinted at something..."

She started walking again rolling her eyes as she went. "No Chris I'm serious, he hasn't said anything at all about whatever it is. I guess we'll just have to be surprised then." She said, shaking her head.

She listened to Chris snort and could hear something creak in the background, probably a chair or his sofa. "You know how I feel about surprises by this point Claire. They're never anything but more trouble.

"Yes I know how you feel about surprises, but Leon would have a good reason for not mentioning anything more. Look Chris, I'll talk to you later ok? I kind of need to focus on where I'm going, I really don't want to be late for this interview. Bye."

She flipped her phone closed, shaking her head a bit. That had been a stranger than average conversation for the two of them, and they were never one's to have normal conversations anyway. Still, her mind kept going back to what Chris had said, something about Leon wanting to talk to them about something after Angela did her run. It worried her now, and was going to pick at her constantly until it was resolved. The number of things that Leon might need to talk to both her and Chris about was small and generally was dominated by things like viruses, pharmecutical companies and meglomaniacs, none of which was exactly appealing to consider. Especially not when she had a big interview in front of her.

Muttering a small curse at insensitive brothers, and another one at secretive government agents, Claire walked as fast as her heels would let her. She needed to forget about Leon, and her brother and whatever might be going on and focus. Focus on getting through the interview and impressing them with her knowledge and personality. Her problems weren't going to run off so she shouldn't bother worrying about it now. Now if only doing it were as easy as saying it. Shaking her head, being careful not to undo the careful hairstyle she'd worked her red hair into, she quickly walked up the steps leading to the building housing the B.T.R.R.O.


End file.
